For those who haven't heard, I am still in Paris. After a lot of sobbing and panicking and unnecessary stress, I made the decision not to spend the rest of the summer in Italy. My mom and I were already sick over leaving each other and life is too short for stress- especially in my last summer before I hit the "real world." I was lucky enough that Glenn and my mom were understanding enough to let me come home early and change my flight to return home with my mom. I am so thrilled to be coming home- I feel as though I have already accomplished a lot this year/summer and I need a little bit of time to refuel before I go back to school again.
The past few days in Paris have been amazing and beautiful and full of worn-out tired feet. We have done a lot of walking- taxi drivers apparently decided who they will/will not pick up and where they will/will not go and are pretty rude about it. We have seen Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomph, the outside of the Louvre and the Jardin du Luxembourg, and all kinds of fabulous streets and shops. When we went to Notre Dame, we were confused because there were hundreds of armed officers with shields and machine guns surrounding a group of people who seemed to be protesting. Later that night we researched and found out that it was a protest against the new Burka laws and that 75-100 people were arrested. Pretty interesting. Libby introduced us to this amazing department store: BHV- which has everything from a home-depot-like section to a library to light fixtures to clothing and jewelry. It was extraordinary. We have had delicious food and desserts and I will post a list later when we go through everything else.
On a sadder note, Libby and I were pick-pocketed on the metro today. The two of us and my mom had been on the metro for under a minute when all three of us felt tugs on our bag. They couldn't get to my mom's wallet before I started to make a commotion so that was good. My wallet: credit cards, ID, traveler's cheques, etc. was thrown on the ground with my phone and the pick-pocket only took cash- which I suppose is a good thing. Libby had just taken Euros out of the machine about 5 minutes before. It was an incredible violation and both of us are still pretty devastated. These people must practice a lot because it was so quick and you could not feel it until they were gone. At least no one was hurt.
We just got back to London and boy oh boy has this been a rough day. Our train stopped mid-track for "electrical difficulties" which isn't any better to hear in French than in English. Then when the train finally was ale to run again, it had to run 100 mph slower than before so we got in much, much later than expected! Now we are exhausted but I will try to write more about Paris tomorrow! Love you all! C'est La Vie! Xxxxx
Beautiful Paris!
Bottom of the diamond from the Da Vinci Code!
The Louvre!
Notre Dame!
The protest we witnessed!
Abercrombie and Fitch- with two cute boys as guards and an extremely long line to get in!
The Hangover = Very Bad Trip 2 in Paris!
Mom in front of Louis Vuitton!
Arc de Triomph!
Our comically small room!
Delicious souffle from dinner!
